Veteran Courier Journal Reporter Laura Ungar’s story on a Louisville man coping with the loss of his young wife from breast cancer has won a statewide journalism award honoring the best in Kentucky storytelling.

Called the David Dick Storytelling Award, the prize is given by the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media and honors the memory of David Dick, professor emeritus and former director of the school, who died in 2010. Dick was a longtime Emmy-winning CBS News correspondent.

Two awards are given each year – one to a professional journalist working in Kentucky for any type of media, including newspaper, web, TV or radio; and the other to a UK student journalist.

Through his experience, she also told a larger tale about grief. Ungar wrote that Bart couldn’t imagine moving forward alone. For months, he “couldn’t bring himself to wash the bedsheets that covered her” and “slept on her side of the bed because that’s where she used to be.”

“Their openness and honesty helped so many Kentuckians facing similar fights.”

Laura Ungar, on the Conleys

Ungar followed Jill Conley’s journey with incurable cancer for 2 ½ years, writing about how she refused to let the disease define her, instead sharing a message that true beauty transcends illness and can’t be erased by it. Bart stood by her side, helping her achieve her life’s mission, caring for her as she died and helping run a charity she started called Jill’s Wish, which helps other families fighting breast cancer pay non-medical expenses.

“The Conleys were incredibly generous to let me chronicle their day-to-day lives as they went through cancer together,” Ungar said. “Their openness and honesty helped so many Kentuckians facing similar fights. People constantly approached me, telling me that the Conleys’ story helped them through their darkest times or reminded them that they are beautiful no matter what.

“So much inspired me about their story, including their love, which never wavered. Even when Jill died, Bart continued to share his story with me and the whole community. After his story ran, I heard from many, many readers who lost loved ones to cancer and related to his story. They said it made them feel less alone in their own grief.

“To me, that’s what storytelling is all about – touching readers on a deep level and helping them make sense of their own lives.”